- Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger feels their pride was restored after last night's 3-0 Champions League win over AC Milan.
The Gunners still bowed out of the competition 4-3 on aggregate, but Wenger was proud of their performance.
He said: "We restored a good performance tonight and we are disappointed because we touched qualification.
"We had the chances and we didn't do it, but we were very close. I felt that we suffered a bit in the second half physically because we gave a lot at Liverpool.
"When we tired in midfield we had no options on the bench and the regret I have is there.
"The players put in a faultless performance, with fantastic spirit and you can only congratulate the whole team."
Wenger added: "If you win 3-0 at home, you can only say well done to the players.
"You know that if you play 180 minutes and you miss 90, it is difficult at that level. We were very close."
- Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger railed against UEFA and the match officials after their courageous Champions League exit against AC Milan.
Wenger was reported to have been involved in a confrontation with Slovakian referee Damir Skomina as they left the field.
Responding to a general question on the match officials in his post-match press conference, theArsenal manager said: "I was not happy with the referee tonight because I felt he gave many free-kicks in the middle of the park.
"Every time they went down a free-kick was given for them, and they sensed that very quickly and they used it very well."
Wenger was also still annoyed by the manner of their humiliation in Italy, which came on a playing surface which had been relaid just days before.
He said: "It is maybe an easy excuse but I feel UEFA has a lot to answer for because if you arrive at 7.46pm you get fined, but you can play on a bad pitch and they don't say a word.
"I just feel it is part of the respect for people who pay their money and go to a football game and expect conditions where you can play football.
"That's what we try to do here and it is unacceptable for UEFA to accept pitches like the one in Milan."
- Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger feels Tomas Rosicky has been a big influence on their form turnaround.
Rosicky was again outstanding in victory over AC Milan.
"I have to give credit to Tomas Rosicky for that. He was again outstanding here. In all of these games, he was one of the most influential players, and he does not always get the credit he deserves, so I would like to take this opportunity to give him credit," Wenger said.
- Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was delighted with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's performance in victory over AC Milan.
Oxlade-Chamberlain was making his first start in the Champions League.
Wenger said: "For a guy who has never played at the top level in central midfield, he started in a Champions League game and he did well. He tired a bit in the second half after his injury, and he got less of the ball than he did in the first half. When he got the ball, you always think something could happen.
"He can play all of the places across the pitch, in midfield to wide. You could see he has suffered physically, but also that he has the class to be in there."
- Arsenal captain Robin van Persie has hailed Tomas Rosicky's influence on their form turnaround.
Rosicky was again outstanding in victory over AC Milan.
“He rarely scores, but [his goal against Spurs] was so important,” recalled the captain in last night. “He started the move himself and then finished it really well.
“Tomas is a hugely important member of this team - he has been playing so well this season and you can see that he’s going from strength to strength.”
Rosicky’s ability on the ball and eye for a pass are matched by few at the top level - and Van Persie believes that his astuteness just cannot be taught.
“I just love playing with him because he’s so quick in his mind, so clever in the way he sees passes and so adept at completing them,” he said.
“He’s just football-clever, and that’s something you can’t pick up later in your career. You either have it or you don’t.”
- Arsenal players are adamant they'll be back in the Champions League next season after last night's courageous defeat to AC Milan.
Laurent Koscielny insisted their efforts in coming so close to a historic result have made them all the more determined to qualify for the Champions League next season.
The French defender — whose seventh-minute goal sparked the Gunners' astonishing fightback — said: "We want to come back in the Premier League because we would like to play games like that again.
"Everyone fought together as team-mates so it's important to keep that going.
"We won against Spurs and Liverpool and although we have difficult games we are now determined to get the fourth place or maybe even third place.
"Everybody's dead tired but when we lost 4-0 in the first game it's always difficult to come back.
"But we gave everything on the pitch and in the end it was just one goal. At half-time we wanted to continue playing like that, we had opportunities in the second half, Robin van Persie had one but he doesn't score. That's life."
- Wojciech Szczesny admits he was left 'heartbroken' by Arsenal's UEFA Champions League exit but feels the manner of their departure fires a warning to their Premier League rivals.
The Gunners came close to overthrowing a 4-0 first-leg deficit against AC Milan at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night but fell just short as the second leg finished 3-0 to the hosts.
Arsenal goalkeeper Szczesny says his side will take confidence from the battling exit and believes their top-four league rivals should be wary.
"We sent a message across to the teams in the Premier League that when we are at our very best we can beat anyone in the country and in Europe," the Poland international said.
"So it will give us a lot of confidence. Yes we are heartbroken because it wasn't enough and we got knocked out of the Champions League but there are a lot of positives."
Recent results have left Arsenal fourth in the Premier League table and four points adrift of fierce local rivals Tottenham.
Szczesny admits he will not be happy with anything less than a third-place finish and hopes Arsenal's neighbours slip out of the race for Champions League football altogether.
"I wouldn't settle now for fourth place," he added. "We're four points behind the other North London club and hopefully we can challenge them.
"Hopefully Chelsea can challenge them for a fourth spot as well. I'd be really pleased to see Tottenham in the Europa League next season."
Gunners defender Thomas Vermaelen believes his side have every chance of overtaking Spurs if they carry the momentum from Tuesday's win into their league campaign.
"If you play the way we played in the first half, if you're consistent like that, then I'm not worried, we will be in the top four," he said.
"If you play the way we played today you can beat every team. It's just a case of being consistent in the next following games and if we do that we will be in the top four and maybe the top three."
Right-back Bacary Sagna is also keen for the Gunners to turn their attention back to the league, with a visit of Newcastle looming next Monday evening.
He said: "Now we have the Premier League. We will receive Newcastle at home and that will be a massive game for us. We are getting closer and closer to Tottenham."
- Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger would not hear criticism of Robin van Persie over his fluffed chance against AC Milan.
Wenger refused to blame Van Persie for missing a glorious chance to complete Arsenal's comeback.
"What can I say about that chance? If there's one person you would want it to fall to it was Robin," the Arsenal manger said.
"I felt Robin wanted to chip the keeper because Abbiati was down on the floor. But he got up quickly and the keeper did well so unfortunately we couldn't score that chance."
No comments:
Post a Comment